Streaming services, which do you have or are you getting rid of?

[payn]

You could go for a free month of Shudder. I keep meaning to, because there's a compilastion series of shorts called "V/H/S" that has on i really want to see; "V/H/S/99", the short called "Shredding."

If you got prime there a series from MGM+ (didnt know that was even a thing) called From thats pretty engaging. Horror unexplainable phenomena genre.

 

[Cadence]

You could go for a free month of Shudder. I keep meaning to, because there's a compilastion series of shorts called "V/H/S" that has on i really want to see; "V/H/S/99", the short called "Shredding."

Shudder got a mention on NPR earlier this week:

https://www.npr.org/2025/10/12/nx-s1-5566110/why-slasher-movies-still-have-us-watching-through-our-fingers

 

[jian]

We've been watching a lot of classic horror lately...and it is really dissapointing how few are on the four major streaming services that we have (D+, Prime, Netflix, HBO). Streaming just keeps getting worse - you are paying more for less. My spouse and I were musing the other day that our neighborhood could use a good video store...

That’s kind of our feeling too. Netflix continues to have a strong broad selection but even it still feels quite sparse these days, and no other streamer can compare, not even D+. I imagine the point of the planned Paramount/WB merger is to merge their two anaemic streamers into something that can compete - but ultimately it will probably result in fewer good or interesting films being produced, much as the Disney/Fox merger a decade ago did.

 

[payn]

That’s kind of our feeling too. Netflix continues to have a strong broad selection but even it still feels quite sparse these days, and no other streamer can compare, not even D+. I imagine the point of the planned Paramount/WB merger is to merge their two anaemic streamers into something that can compete - but ultimately it will probably result in fewer good or interesting films being produced, much as the Disney/Fox merger a decade ago did.

There is more than meets the eye behind that WB/P merger that I cant really go into. All I will say is it would not mean better quality programming for folks, maybe just higher quantity for a time.

 

[Ryujin]

There is more than meets the eye behind that WB/P merger that I cant really go into. All I will say is it would not mean better quality programming for folks, maybe just higher quantity for a time.

 

[jian]

There is more than meets the eye behind that WB/P merger that I cant really go into. All I will say is it would not mean better quality programming for folks, maybe just higher quantity for a time.

Yeah, it’s quite noticeable that since Disney ate Fox we’ve had lots of licensed stuff from their IPs (such as all the Star Wars films and series) but very little interesting filmmaking like Hidden Figures. WB is having a great year but maybe this will be the last time we see something like Sinners from them.

 

[Mercurius]

I'm thinking of getting rid of Peacock. I held onto it because it is so cheap, but damn, the commercials are out of control.

I still think Apple is the "new HBO": the best overall quality, but with limited output. That is, Apple in 2025 is sort of like HBO in 2010. It even has its "must-watch phenomenon" in Severance (i.e. Game of Thrones). That said, I really should remind myself to toggle the on/off button: I get into a series, finish it, then forget about Apple and pay for three months without watching anything.

I still hold onto Amazon and Netflix. Neither blow me away, but there's enough churn that there's usually something to (re)watch. I sort of toggle some of the add-ons through Amazon: Paramount, MGM, AMC.

Oh, I have Hulu/Disney because one of my daughters wanted to watch something on Disney. I'll probably cancel them soon, at least for awhile. Hulu has some solid content, but feels a bit extra.

I dabbled with Britbox, as I like euro thrillers/police procedurals (nice that they're not gun-centric!). But I didn't watch much, plus most of the really good procedurals end up on Amazon or Netflix.

 

[payn]

I'm thinking of getting rid of Peacock. I held onto it because it is so cheap, but damn, the commercials are out of control.

I still think Apple is the "new HBO": the best overall quality, but with limited output. That is, Apple in 2025 is sort of like HBO in 2010. It even has its "must-watch phenomenon" in Severance (i.e. Game of Thrones). That said, I really should remind myself to toggle the on/off button: I get into a series, finish it, then forget about Apple and pay for three months without watching anything.

I still hold onto Amazon and Netflix. Neither blow me away, but there's enough churn that there's usually something to (re)watch. I sort of toggle some of the add-ons through Amazon: Paramount, MGM, AMC.

Oh, I have Hulu/Disney because one of my daughters wanted to watch something on Disney. I'll probably cancel them soon, at least for awhile. Hulu has some solid content, but feels a bit extra.

I dabbled with Britbox, as I like euro thrillers/police procedurals (nice that they're not gun-centric!). But I didn't watch much, plus most of the really good procedurals end up on Amazon or Netflix.

I keep forgetting to activate my 90 day Apple trial!

 

[jian]

Now at 10 days without any streamer. Watching Tubi as well as Plex, and so have watched:

• The first ever episode of Mighty Morphing Power Rangers. Zordon really asked for teenagers with attitude. What an idiot. Mind you, after their first feckless fumblings, it's clear that Jason at least has taken the time to read the manual, since he gets into summoning and combining giant robots like he's been doing it all his life.
• Heaven Can Wait, a lovely Ernst Lubitsch comedy and his only one in Technicolor. Lubitsch does continue to be much more laissez-faire about adultery than I care for, however.
• The Lady Vanishes, the 1979 version with Angela Lansbury. Heretically, I prefer it to the Hitchcock original since it makes a lot more sense. Cybill Shepherd doing Carole Lombard is a treat. And the cast is generally superior - Herbert Lom, Arthur Lowe, Ian Carmichael, Elliot Gould. The southern Austrian scenery is spectacular.
• The first episode of the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes series from Granada, which is excellent as ever. A Scandal in Bohemia is a weird one to start on, but it's great (props to Gayle Hunnicutt as Adler) and it's funny to see Wolf Kahler (who played an SS officer in The Lady Vanishes) as the King. It does serve to remind me how execrable Sherlock was, especially the version of this episode.

 

[Ryujin]

Now at 10 days without any streamer. Watching Tubi as well as Plex, and so have watched:

• The first ever episode of Mighty Morphing Power Rangers. Zordon really asked for teenagers with attitude. What an idiot. Mind you, after their first feckless fumblings, it's clear that Jason at least has taken the time to read the manual, since he gets into summoning and combining giant robots like he's been doing it all his life.
• Heaven Can Wait, a lovely Ernst Lubitsch comedy and his only one in Technicolor. Lubitsch does continue to be much more laissez-faire about adultery than I care for, however.
• The Lady Vanishes, the 1979 version with Angela Lansbury. Heretically, I prefer it to the Hitchcock original since it makes a lot more sense. Cybill Shepherd doing Carole Lombard is a treat. And the cast is generally superior - Herbert Lom, Arthur Lowe, Ian Carmichael, Elliot Gould. The southern Austrian scenery is spectacular.
• The first episode of the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes series from Granada, which is excellent as ever. A Scandal in Bohemia is a weird one to start on, but it's great (props to Gayle Hunnicutt as Adler) and it's funny to see Wolf Kahler (who played an SS officer in The Lady Vanishes) as the King. It does serve to remind me how execrable Sherlock was, especially the version of this episode.

You can supplement what you already have with one of the cheaper Roku models and get even more vintage TV, plus the occasional gem like the Weird Al "biopic."